Physicians/surgeons and other medical professionals often need to administer anesthetics before conducting surgery and other operations. However, it is sometimes difficult to know how effective the anesthetic drugs are and the size of the area affected. For example, when administering anesthetics to the spine it is often important to determine how high up on the spine the anesthetics have traveled. Some medical professionals test this by applying ice cubes or cold rubber alcohol to skin along the spine and the patient is asked whether the ice can be felt or not. This method is messy and unreliable.
It is also necessary for the medical professional to repeatedly go between a freezer and the patient since the ice melts at room temperature. Other professionals pinch the patient with a tool or use needles. These methods are sometimes not comfortable for the patient and not so reliable as they influence other nerve centers also. Cold gas spray device have also been used but they are uneconomic, smell bad and are not good for the environment. There is a need for a more reliable and efficient method of determining how much of the area anaesthetized is affected by the anesthetics.
The present invention solves the above-outlined problems. Firstly, the present invention has an even low surface temperature device that holds the temperature constant by a constant power supply. Secondly, the surface temperature can be held, for example, at about −5 down to −20 C depending on the power used. This is more effective than melting ice at about 0 C. Thus, the present invention is a more effective and reliable method and suitable as a standard method for testing.
More particularly, the sensor device of the present invention has a housing with a flanged section that has a threaded outer section. The flanged section is made of a material that has a high heat conductivity index.
A holder or nut is attached to the outer section and made of a material with a low heat conductivity index that is substantially lower than the first high heat conductivity index. The holder holds a peltier element is held to the outer section. The peltier element is connected to a power source so that the element has a cooled outer layer and a heated inner layer. The inner layer is in contact with the section and the outer layer may be applied on to the skin of the patient to determine the scope and effect of anesthetic treatment.